Summer is in full swing and you’re all packed to spend a week at a vacation home with your friends and family. You’ve prepared your home for your absence, but there is one last thing on your check list: does your homeowners policy cover you when you rent a vacation home? You might be wondering if it is even worth it, but consider this: you’re bringing personal property with you right? And accidents do happen, occasionally. Good news is that your homeowners insurance policy has two types of coverage: property and liability. These combined can help protect you, even if you’re on the other side of the world.
Property Coverage
Personal property coverage provides protection for your belongings in your home. This can include furniture, clothes, jewelry, electronics such as laptops and TV’s, or that awesome new bike you just bought. Check with your agent to ensure your policy covers property when away from your homes premises (like in a vacation home!). This coverage could help you cover the cost of replacing them if they are stolen or damaged due to events such as house fires, lightning strikes or pipe leaks.
Liability Coverage
Liability coverage extends beyond just covering you if someone is injured in your home and you’re found liable. It can also help protect you if you are residing in a rental home and you forget about the pan you left on the stove which causes smoke or fire damage or that faucet you forgot to turn off that resulted in water damage. Protection for the unexpected is inexpensive. The cost to repair those damages are not.
Before you Rent
Reach out to the owner of the home to ensure they have a homeowner’s policy that includes liability coverage. Also, talk with your local Lighthouse agent to better understand how your existing policy may or may not cover you while on vacation. Lighthouse is here to get your life back to normal sooner rather than later!